U.S. President Bush's prescription for Palestinian statehood was put on hold Wednesday after the second deadly bombing in Jerusalem in less than two days and as Israel moved to reoccupy Palestinian areas of the West Bank in response.
On a day when a new attack killed several people at a bus stop in north Jerusalem, administration officials said a presidential announcement at this sensitive stage in the Arab-Israeli conflict would be unlikely to have a positive impact.
"It's obvious that the immediate aftermath is not the right time," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer. "The president wants to give a speech at a time when it will have the maximum impact to bring the maximum prospects for peace to the region and the president will make that determination about what that time is."
Fleischer made plain that Bush has decided on his message, but was waiting for the right moment. "It's hard to get people to focus on peace today when there's still suffering from the consequences of terrorism as we speak."
Put on hold, as well, was a trip to the Middle East next week by Secretary of State Colin Powell, though it remains under future consideration, AP reported.
Fr his part, Palestinian Labour Minister Ghassan al-Khatib said that Bush's decision to delay the speech could only "widen the cycle of violence."
"The right and only response to Israeli and Palestinian violence is to launch a peace process that ends occupation and provides peace and security," Khatib said.
The White House also said that Israel has the right to defend itself, after Israel decided to reoccupy autonomous Palestinian land in the wake of Tuesday’s bombing attack.
US President "understands that Israel is in the middle of recovering from a very serious attack. The president believes that Israel has a right to defend itself," said Fleischer.
"The president hopes that whatever action Israel takes will be cognizant to the fact that the path to peace must still be pursued and Israel has to remember the consequences of its actions today for what happens tomorrow," commented Fleischer.
"But the president understands the right of Israel to self-defense, particularly in the wake of an attack of this severity," added the spokesman. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
